Digestibles: 30 Days of Gut Health Day 22 - Colonoscopy prep

Digestibles: 30 Days of Gut Health Day 22 - Colonoscopy prep. Follow me for more gut health facts and tips every day this month!

[chrisoneill]

Pro tip: eat low-residue for 4-7 days ahead of time to minimize the amount of stool you'll need to pass. Also, get a bidet if you can - it's much more comfortable than wiping, especially when you're pooping that much. (Sincerely, a Crohnie who's done four of these stupid things in the past 15 years)

[TraceyPruitt]

Its a small price to pay to drink the prep it that lets Dr. have a clear picture of what's going on. Ive had 2 exams and it was right back to normal after. A 2 1/2 centimeter tumor was found and removed. However you prep, get the test!

[andrewshaw]

Calling the nuclear laxative prep liquid "mildly unpleasant" is like calling a cat 5 hurricane a mild breeze, haha.

[rossdking]

I was prescribed Sutab which is a pill instead of Suprep and the pill prep worked great for my colonoscopy a few months ago

[n.gineer]

I took notes the first time so when I had to do it again the next year I could adjust and the next time it was easy, the time after that so predictable it’s nothing. I guess it’s just practice. The flavored prep is better than the old goop that tasted like chalk. Best if you can have daily movements the week prior and just have chicken soup the day before. No red foods within 24hrs!
Don’t put off your colonoscopy!

[joanhoffman]

I was given the tablets, but they didn’t completely clear things out. I wasn’t told what to look for to know if the prep was complete (clear yellow liquid). So I had the liquid prep for the second try and the citrate in a bottle to finish the clearing out process. No problems found!

[ElizabethT]

I tried twice. I vomited up all of the liquid, and then tried again and vomited up all of the pills. Unless there's another way, I'm kind of stuck.

[riftlee]

They definitely have come up with a simple pill, and it's much better to take that and chug water than to drink the fluids!

[Myrtle]

I had my colonoscopy about a month ago. I just had to drink Miralax dissolved in Gatorade. Drinking it wasn't a problem. The "results" were certainly unpleasant, but not as bad as I was expecting. Nothing was found on my scan, so I don't need to repeat the experience any time soon. Whew!

Honestly, it's way better to have mild inconvenience for a day than put it off until it's potentially too late.

[noga]

My GI clinic uses the Miralax and Gatorade regiment, so luckily the actual consumption of the prep liquid has never been a problem (and good, because as a Crohnie I'm gonna need a lot of these!). The main issue for me is the clear liquid diet. Makes me crave the weirdest solid foods... Just give me a raw tomato, I'm sick of Jello and broth 😭

[elizabeth]

Ooooh those tablets work well, much better than a gallon of liquid

[MyCleverHandle]

I argued with the hospital's GI lab scheduler when she called less than 18 hours before the set time for the procedure to tell me they needed to move me up by 6 hours. I wound up cancelling it entirely, which meant I had to wait 3 months to get rescheduled. I wrote out a formal complaint to my insurer, with copies to my gastro dr. and the Chief of Medicine at the hospital. Now, three months after, they're wanting to change scheduling again for surgery. I think they're hoping I will die before they have to do anything more.

[kylerford]

I am procrastinating because I get migraines when I don’t eat. Is there anyway to keep blood sugar stable through all of this?

[BunnyNorris]

I recently had a rare bout with constipation and just could not drink the Magnesium Citrate without gagging and nearly throwing up from the tiniest sip.

So to do what I needed to do I added a packet of watermelon flavored hydration powder to it. Still wasn’t the tastiest but I was definitely able to drink it. Would that be possible with the prep drink for a colonoscopy or could it interfere with the procedure?

Edit: so nothing with color then maybe adding a flavor concentrate since those are colorless.

[annew]

I used to be the receptionist for a local GI doctor. one of his nurses told me that once she went in for an endoscopy and they did a colonoscopy without her permission. Is that really a thing?? this was years and years ago in her case, but she said she would never do it again. I strongly suspect she was lying but I wanted to double-check.

[bensaund]

Just have the colon removed, saves all issues.

[VICE-HRO]

Sibo can cause either constipation (from Archaea producing Methane) or Diarrhea (from bacteria producing hydrogen). Hydrogen Sulfate producing bacteria can produce mix results but often diarrhea, it is probably the worst one as hydrogen sulfate associated with colon cancer and colon inflammation (I feel their is a connection with IBD Ulcerative Colitis)

[JanetPownall]

The prep isn't the worst part. They tell you the colonoscopy is just a little uncomfortable but it hurts a lot, especially when they try forcing it round bends in the colon. I found it to be brutal and think they should only do it under anaesthetic. Also I think women find it more difficult than men because the organs are more tightly packed.

[danacoleman]

honest to God! people are such wimps. I've been through this procedure twice now and it's really not that bad. not to mention the fact that it's extremely well worth it!

[unclebucksquarter]

Doesn’t the camera pill show your intestines fully? I know you have to still have to prep but it seems like it would be less stressful. My husband had to swallow them 3 different times. He went 11 years with no doctor figuring out where his bleeding was coming from. He had at least 11 colonoscopies during that time. He was constantly going to get 2 -3 units of blood. And the last three years of his life he had to go in once a month to get them. It wasn’t scheduled either, they could never tell if he should go in . He ended up on dialysis and it got way worse. They should have checked his hemoglobin every time he went but they wouldn’t listen to me. Finally one day he said he wasn’t going back and I told him you know what that means and he said yes. About 3 days later he ended up back in the hospital for the last time. I lost him two days later.